The present invention is related to systems and equipment used in processing mass mailings of consumer related information, as well as methods for using such.
A large number of companies and organizations provide direct mailings to various consumers and other recipients. These typically include a piece of information related to the particular recipient at a cost related to the weight of the piece of information and associated packaging. This approach can be costly. In part to reduce this cost, multiple pieces of information have been included with a single mailing. This can lower the average cost associated with any single piece of information, but also renders the mailing less directed, thus reduces the average effectiveness of the mailings.
Yet further, providing a large amount of irrelevant or less relevant direct mailings may cause recipients to disregard all direct mailings through believing that they are generally irrelevant and do not warrant reading. Additionally, a large amount of direct mailings are detrimental to the recipients and the public in general as they must be disposed of, and ultimately end up in land fills.
Some companies that already send direct mailings have found it advantageous to include various additional information with such mailings. As just one example, various credit card companies provide offers with statements that are sent to credit card holders. An ability to provide increased control over the recipients receiving a particular direct mailing can thus be useful to such companies. One such company, First Data Corporation, the assignee of the present invention sends millions of statements out each month to credit card users. In addition to these statements, various additional information is included with at least some of these statements. FDC has developed its DecisionQuest product that allows a credit card company processing with FDC to choose which information that is to be included with a given statement. This product is used in relation to companies that process credit cards or other statements through FDC via FDC""s mainframe, and statement schedules. The system does not allow for third party providers of information, or for companies that do not process credit card transactions through via FDC""s mainframe to utilize the system. The system allows for business rules to be defined by a client processing via FDC""s mainframe. These business rules indicate an information set to be provided with a statement, and ultimately delivered on the statement schedule. While this system has reduced the number of poorly placed mailings as discussed above, it can only operate on a standard statement schedule, and in relation to companies fully incorporated into the credit card processing system. Thus, among other things, there exists a need in the art to address the aforementioned limitations.
The present invention provides systems and methods for assembling a mailing. The mailing can include one or more offer items along with one or more inserts. Various embodiments of the present invention provide for determining which inserts are to be combined with a given offer item, and then effectuating the assembly of the mailings via a computer controlled inserter. The determination of what inserts to include can be made by applying a rule set to a decision information upon reception of an external tickler. Thus, for example, the rule set can indicate that a particular insert is to be provided to all recipient""s within a given zipcode that are over a defined age. As another alternative, the rule set can indicate that a recipient with a high income is to receive a heavier, more costly version of an insert. Using such an invention, the process of preparing offer items and/or inserting a defined insert set with an offer item can be computer controlled, and tailored to creating effective, direct mailings to individual recipients.
In operation, an entity other than the entity performing the assembly provides an external tickler, and in some cases one or more of a rule set and decision information. The rule set is applied to the decision information, and the results are transmitted to processing equipment including inserters, folders, printers, and/or stuffers for assembling a customized mailing for the indicated recipient.
The determined insert set can be assembled and/or folded, and associated with an offer item addressed to the recipient. To this end, a folder can be used in relation to the present invention to prepare offer items and/or inserts to be included in a particular mailing item. Thus, for example, a set of unfolded and/or unprinted offer items can be folded in preparation for insertion into envelopes by an inserter. In addition, an inserter can be used to assemble the inserts and offer items, and stuff the assembled items into an envelope.
One particular embodiment of the present invention provides a system for selecting inserts that includes a multi-bay insert holder and an offer item associated offer item holder. Such an offer item holder can be one of the insert holders or a separate device where the offer item is held. In one particular instance, the offer item holder is a conveyor belt, and the insert holder is a bay or bin loaded with a number of the inserts. The system further includes a microprocessor that can access a computer readable medium comprising software. The software is executable by the microprocessor to receive an external tickler, receive one or more decision rules, receive decision information, and upon receiving the external tickler, apply the decision rule to the decision information. In addition, the software is executable to send a control signal to the multi-bay insert holder that indicates an insert associated with the multi-bay insert holder to be associated with the offer item. In some instances, the external tickler includes an indication of a scheduled offer item for a particular recipient. Such a scheduled offer item can be, for example, an account statement, a bill, an appointment notification, or the like.
In some instances, the decision rule indicates a threshold amount of the decision information at which the insert is to be provided to the recipient. Thus, for example, a particular insert may be provided to all individuals within a particular geographic location that are over age thirty. Examples of decision information can thus include location and age information for a group of individuals. Other decision information can include, but is not limited to, a credit limit, a personal income, an account type, a credit rating, an account balance, a number of dependents, and the like. In some instances, a plurality of data points within the decision information are operated on by the decision rule. For example, some decision rules operate on both age and income, while other decision rules operate on account type and age. Based on this disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate a myriad of decision rules and decision information that can be used in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
In some instances, the system includes two microprocessor based systems where one of the microprocessor based systems is locally coupled to the multi-bay insert holder, and the other is communicably coupled to the first microprocessor via a communication network. In such a system, the control signal can include a data packet provided by the communicably coupled microprocessor based system to the locally maintained microprocessor based system. In some cases, the control signal further includes an electrical signal based on the data packet and provided to the insert holder.
Other embodiments of the present invention provide methods for selecting inserts to be included with an offer item. Such methods include receiving an external tickler and a decision rule. Based on the external tickler, the decision rule is applied to a decision information to create an insert set. The insert set includes at least one insert to be associated with an offer item. In some cases, the decision information is provided from an external source, while in other cases, the decision information is provided by an entity associating the inserts with offer items. The method further includes associating the insert set with the offer item.
Yet other embodiments of the present invention provide methods for preparing customized insert sets for distribution with offer items. Such methods include providing a control interface that is operable to receive an external tickler and a decision rule in some cases, the control interface is a web page maintained by the entity associating inserts with offer items. The method further includes receiving the external tickler, and the decision rule. Based on the external tickler, the decision rule is applied to a decision information to create an insert set that includes at least one insert to be included with an offer item. The insert set is also associated with the offer item.
The summary provides only a general outline of the embodiments according to the present invention. Many other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.